"dateline." loving. she was amazing. i just can't tell you the feeling that went through my mind. i couldn't think of anybody that would ever want to do what they did to her. >> reporter: amyjane was an angel. >> hi! >> traveling the world with her church to help children -- >> they loved amy. they loved amy so much. >> reporter: -- but back home, something sinister lay waiting. >> it was a pretty horrific crime scene. >> reporter: a bright young life, snuffed out. >> who would do that? it doesn't make any sense at all. >> reporter: months later, a mom out for a walk, vanishes. >> karen is gone. i don't know where she is.

and i just cried. >> one murder, one disappearance in the same small town. but soon, police would discover a creepier connection. >> one of the detectives had gotten his hands on an image of amyjane brandhagen and karen lange together. oh, my god! the dead teenager and the missing mom, arm-in-arm. >> in that moment, most of us knew that wasn't coincidence. >> reporter: was someone stalking the women of this tight-knit church? >> this sounds more like a zodiac type killer. >> absolutely. >> a race to connect the dots, revealing a truth darker than anyone imagined. >> i don't get that. i mean, it's just evil. >> i'm lester holt, and this is "dateline". here's keith morrison with "someone was out there." >> reporter: there are children born into this world for whom the dance never ends. for whom joy seems uncontained.

for whom exuberance is uncontainable. >> amyjane! what are we doing right now? >> we're riding on the roof of a car! >> reporter: there was this young woman. a sprite, really, in a young woman's body, who loved adventure and people. and who danced to music no one else could hear. which is why -- >> it haunted me. this case haunted me. >> reporter: -- haunted the police. haunted the whole town. >> is there a serial killer around? >> reporter: a serial killer with plans for two women in one particular church in one particular photograph? >> i was like, this is insane and everybody needs to find this person! >> reporter: yes, but it began with that girl, that sprite. >> just the freest spirit you can think of, like, literally not having a care in the world. >> reporter: kate cook is talking about her friend and fellow missionary, amyjane brandhagen.

talking about her now that it's happened, that it's all over. kate and amyjane went to india and nepal together two short years ago. small town girls. kate from wisconsin, amyjane, from oregon. >> she was always ready to give and pour her heart out to people and give everything that she had to offer. ♪ they were there three months for something called "youth with a mission" or y-wam for short. like tourists, they went to the taj majal and like preachers, they spread the word to children, mostly, for whom amyjane was magnetic, irresistible. >> when they would see her, they would run up to her and they'd go, "dee dee! deedee!" which means sister, sister. you know? like so excited. >> reporter: and when the three month mission trip was over? >> she hated it! she was like, i don't want to go home. >> reporter: home for amyjane was a universe away from

vibrant, teeming india. here it is -- pendleton, safely tucked into a small valley on the vast rolling flanks of eastern oregon. cowboy country. >> ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the pendleton roundup! ♪ >> home to one of the nation's biggest rodeos -- the pendleton roundup, which, each september, celebrates the town's rough and tumble past as a brawling-and-bordello filled cowtown. and then? then good, conservative citizens wave goodbye to departing cowboys and settle into a safe and predictable life and fill the pews every sunday morning without fail. people like bill caldera, who was like family to amyjane and her parents, dave and cathy brandhagen. >> they brought amyjane home when she was just three days old. and we were there when -- when

she was brought home. >> reporter: bill knew and adored the remarkable little girl from the very beginning. >> you watched amyjane grow up? >> yes. >> reporter: around and saw what sort of girl emerge? >> she was very carefree, loving, didn't know a stranger. >> reporter: the brandhagens asked bill to speak for them after what happened, when they sorely needed their church family at pendleton free methodist. like youth minister jed hummel and his wife lisa, who encountered the dancing sprite when she was in middle school. >> if she got the feeling that you were left out, she'd find you and make sure you knew that you had a friend. >> a little bit like pippi longstocking! >> that's exactly -- oh, certainly! and i always remembered she knew everyone's name! she was just fun. >> reporter: mind you, when she was far away in india, the people who loved amyjane worried a lot. and didn't breathe easy until she returned home to the safety and security of pendleton where -- >> she was waiting for god to

tell her what to do next, whether it was gonna be to travel the world, or go back to y-wam or go to school. >> reporter: she wanted more freedom, too. so, she moved out of her parents house and got herself a little apartment in downtown pendleton. worked two jobs to pay for it, including a job cleaning motel rooms at the travelodge across from city hall. >> she was excited to get this other job, but she wasn't so sure about working at the hotel. she was a little nervous about it. >> reporter: after all, she'd never done that sort of thing before or answered to a boss who, well this one sounded gruff. but she went. and she scoured and scrubbed those little rooms that looked out on downtown pendleton. and then, it was august 14th, 2012. >> 911 what is your emergency? >> i am calling from travelodge in pendleton. there's a girl dead in the bathroom. i don't know. >> a girl dead in the bathroom? >> i think she's passed out or -- >> okay, i'm gonna get police

and ambulance headed that way, okay? >> reporter: in his office down the hall from the 911 operator, bill caldera listened and felt the dread flood in. >> it just gave me a feeling in the pit of my stomach that something was not good about this call. >> reporter: bill, remember, was a close friend of the brandhagen family, attends the same church. but he's also a policeman and that day, with the chief on vacation, lieutenant bill caldera was the man in charge. >> as soon as one of my patrol sergeants arrived on the scene, he requested my presence. which i knew then we were probably dealing with a homicide. >> reporter: but as he raced to the motel, he couldn't know what had just been started there. anymore than whose life had just ended. what this veteran investigators was about to find would leave him stunned. >> i just can't tell you the feeling that went through -- went through my mind. when we return, a crime that

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he's not with me. mucinex fast max night time. multi-symptom relief plus nasal decongestant. breathe easy. sleep easy. start the relief. ditch the misery. let's end this. ♪ >> reporter: if god had a plan for pendleton, oregon on the afternoon of august 14th, 2012, one could hardly have imagined it would be this -- >> 911, what is your emergency? >> there's a girl dead in the

bathroom. >> reporter: lieutenant bill caldera prepared himself as he drove over to the travelodge and then climbed the stairs to room 231. all the preparation in the world would not have been enough. lying on the bathroom floor, her lifeless body punctured by the startling scarlet of a dozen stab wounds, was the sweet free spirit he'd known since she was a baby. 19-year-old, amyjane brandhagen. >> it felt like somebody had kicked me in the pit of my stomach. i just can't tell you the feeling that went through my mind. >> yeah, almost like she was your kid in a way. >> very much. >> reporter: lieutenant caldera took it upon himself to notify amyjane's parents. >> that was probably the toughest thing i've ever had to do in my career, and i just can't tell you the feeling that we all had. we broke down in tears. >> reporter: but why would anyone want to kill amyjane of all people? >> i was just crushed, like, how is this even possible?

i was just speechless. and i sat crying in the bathroom for like the next hour, not understanding. craziness. >> reporter: as word spread throughout amyjane's church family, so did the questions. high school youth pastor, chris thatcher -- >> reporter: early on, was there any indication of who may have been responsible? i don't think anybody had any idea. and i think that's what made it so hard is that, so many of us, we know each other. we're family here. >> reporter: but there was the dismal work to do. lieutenant caldera returned to the motel where amy was murdered. it would be pretty hard for you to take part in an active investigation. >> no, i wouldn't have. i couldn't have. not with my relationship. >> reporter: lieutenant caldera turned the case over to detective sergeant rick jackson. >> it was a pretty, pretty horrific crime scene. >> reporter: it was obvious amyjane fought her life. her glasses lay in the bathtub.

blood spattered the walls. dna of a male, presumably her attacker, would be found under her fingernails. but the medical examiner said it was not a sex attack and it wasn't robbery either. amyjane's purse and cell phone were still right there on the bedside table. and nobody saw a thing. even though -- >> this was during broad daylight with a motel room door, with motel room doors open. >> reporter: the only potential witness, if he was a witness at all, was a painter working at the motel who said he saw a young man with longer hair, darker skin, perhaps hispanic or native american, walking near the back parking lot. >> it may have been the person who did it or it may not have been. it might have been someone just passing by. >> sure. while we were there shoot, within the first hour of being at the crime scene, upwards of 50 people walked by. i mean, this is a pretty busy area of town! >> reporter: busy, yes. and studded with cctv cameras. banks, bridges, city hall,

walking trails along the river that runs through town. detectives painstakingly went through the footage. >> there was nothing. >> reporter: they took dna from dozens of motel guests to check against the sample taken from amyjane's fingernails. wasn't any of them. so, detective jackson went to the people who knew amyjane well or perhaps, romantically. those stab wounds were all focused around her heart which often indicates some kind of crime of passion. but -- >> i think most of the males we spoke to really viewed themselves as her protectors. >> reporter: pendleton police chief stuart roberts hurried back home from his abbreviated mexican vacation and encountered a case going nowhere fast. >> everybody that knew her characterized her in the same way. she knew no stranger. she didn't have an evil bone in her body. >> reporter: as the investigation entered its 2nd week, amyjane's family prepared a memorial service at the church where they'd raised their daughter.

>> amy loved thunderstorms. and it was one of her favorite things to do was to go out barefoot and dance in the rain because she just loved it! and the morning of her memorial service there was a loud clap of thunder that came over town about 6:30 a.m. and several of us heard it. i think we knew. >> up there dancin' in the rain somewhere, huh? >> i think she was. >> and together we pray, in jesus name, amen. >> reporter: hundreds crowded into amyjane's church and many, like jed and lisa hummel, were amazed by the strength of amyjane's parents. >> they were hurting deeply. but they weren't looking for vengeance. >> me, on the other hand, i was just ticked! i was like, "this is insane and everybody needs to find this person!" >> reporter: oh, they were certainly trying, even at that very moment. >> we had about 10 or 12 undercover officers in and about the memorial service,

looking for anybody that would strike us as odd. >> reporter: but? no one stood out. >> hang in there, caleb, hang in there. >> reporter: a month after the murder, the famous roundup filled the streets as usual. and then they emptied again. and as the autumn wind turned raw, detective jackson's investigation chased down every lead and got nowhere. >> we call them rabbit trails. we ran hundreds of rabbit trails down. >> reporter: the holidays came and went. holidays for other people, not detective jackson, not chief roberts. >> it haunted me. this case haunted me. >> reporter: and then? a spring breeze dipped into the pendleton valley, curled its warming fingers into secret corners and came out whispering a name. coming up -- >> we've gone for months with nothing and now this. >> out of the blue, a tip.

have cops found their killer? >> we go out and find his girlfriend. she's going, i always believed he

>> reporter: six months after the murder of amyjane brandhagen, investigators finally caught a break. a county jail inmate looking for a deal got word out to the cops.

he claimed to know who killed amyjane. >> i mean, we've gone for months with nothing and now this! >> reporter: there were two of them, said the inmate -- ira draper and eric torres. both well known to local law enforcement, who soon confirmed the men were in the area the day of the murder. they found torres first. and? looked like they were onto something. torres said yes, he was in on it but he didn't kill her. it was the guy he was with. he said, draper, who went into the motel room and came out very bloody. >> he basically tells 'em, yeah, i was driving the getaway car. >> reporter: it was his buddy who did the killing, he said. ira draper. >> so, we go out and find his girlfriend and she's going, "i always believed he could have potentially done this. he's aggressive and he has these journals. they're journal entries about defiling women and killing and burying 'em." >> reporter: they found and

questioned draper, who said he understood why he was a suspect. >> have you ever thought about killing anybody? >> i've never really planned it out, but maybe thought about, yeah. >> reporter: but after a few minutes with draper, jackson had a familiar, sinking feeling. >> he was very much so enamored by the fact that the police were giving him attention. >> he was just playing it for all it was worth? >> he was getting a little "street cred" for it. >> reporter: and the dna confirmed it was all an act. two unpleasant men, police said, who seemed to be enjoying themselves at the expense of the cops. so, back to zero. by august, 2013, it had been almost a full year since amyjane brandhagen's murder in pendleton. investigators had exhausted hundreds of leads and themselves. >> i knew it was having an impact on my physiological

health as well as my mental health. >> reporter: on august 8th, the chief took his family out of town for some r&r. and the very next day, a woman named karen lange, happened to be a member of amyjane's church, announced to her husband, dan, she was going for a walk. >> she came down, and i'll never forget what she said. she said, "well, y'know, i was thinking that we could maybe go out for dessert afterward." >> reporter: karen was an accomplished singer and pianist. dan, vice president of the local community college. her walk along the river levee near downtown pendleton, the riverwalk, was an almost daily habit. it was 4:30 p.m. lots of sun left on a warm august afternoon. >> and the last words she said to me were, "well, i guess we'll just have a nice boring evening." >> reporter: dan went back to tinkering on his motorcycle, lost all track of time. it was dark when his son walked into the room and asked an

innocuous question. >> "where's mom?" i said, "hmm, well, i don't know, i'll give her a call." so, i went and tried to make a phone call and i couldn't get ahold of her. >> reporter: but it was after 9:30 p.m. karen usually walked for less than an hour. she'd been gone for five. in some people, anxiety stokes panic. dan is not like that. it's a coping mechanism. he stays calm. he made another call. >> long day. 10:00 p.m. at night. my phone rings. and so, "hey, hi, dan." >> reporter: remember jed and lisa hummel? friends of amyjane's from church? karen always parked her car in front of their house when she took her late afternoon walks. >> he says, "is karen at your house?" no. no, i just got home and i asked lisa if she'd been over. i said, "no, haven't seen her." >> and i had looked outside and sure enough the car was still there, so we went out to the car

and she wasn't there. >> reporter: so, jed and lisa grabbed flashlights and walked the couple blocks from their house down to the river levee. and there in a parking lot sat a pendleton policeman. what should they do, they asked him? >> and he just thought it was unusual enough that he got a hold of dan. >> reporter: as the officer left to talk to dan, jed and lisa kept looking through the dark along the river bank. >> there's a fear of not finding anything. and there's a fear of finding something. >> when i got to the -- where the policeman was, we were talking and he said, "you seem to be awfully calm for your wife being missing." and at that point, i thought, holy mackerel, y'know? if there's something bad that happened to her, i could be a suspect. >> reporter: from his patrol car, the officer was able to pull up images from cameras stationed around the river levee. no sign of karen. then, her cell provider sent a

"ping" to karen's phone. it turned up across the main road about a half-mile from the river in the parking lot at walmart, where again, the officer could not find karen. what was going on? around and around the riverwalk they went, pointing their puny flashlights at a sea of dark. >> i did go home about five. i wrote an email saying, "karen is gone. i don't know where she is. i just have to go to bed." and i went and i just cried. >> reporter: he did not sleep long. the phone call that startled him awake brought news -- some good. some very, very bad. coming up -- amyjane's murder and karen's disappearance. could they be connected? investigators are about to discover a disturbing clue.

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>> reporter: there have been few clues and no arrests, now another woman in the same small town has disappeared as we rejoin our story, police are about to discover a chilling connection between the two that will terrify an entire community. but will it help them catch a killer? again, keith morrison. >> reporter: dawn took its own imperious time on the morning of august 10th, 2013. by that time, going on 6:00 a.m., karen lange had been missing more than 12 hours. and then finally, the morning sun lit up the banks of the

umatilla river. and -- >> the policemen called. he said, "we found your wife." >> reporter: she was found and alive. but what the policeman said next was terrifying. >> well, when he said, "we found your wife and she's alive" that was a great relief. but he certainly made it sound like it was a tough, tough thing. >> reporter: oh, it was. karen had been struck from behind by some heavy, blunt object. her skull was crushed. the wound was massive. right away, the detective called the chief on vacation in the mountains five hours away and described the way they found her. >> did he think she was dead already? >> he thought she was dead. tremendous amount of blood. he indicates that he reaches for her, her wrist to see if she has a pulse. and her leg moves and she gasps. >> reporter: but it didn't look like she'd be alive for long.

the detective drove dan lange to the hospital. told him, prepare for the worst. as he arrived at the emergency room, dan ran into a nurse he knew. >> and she took one look at me, and i was so heartbroken that i, of course, broke down. and then i had a chance to see karen. >> reporter: the doctors gave her a slim chance -- one in a hundred maybe. she was airlifted to a bigger hospital in portland for specialized care. and as dan kept watch at her bedside, he remembered an odd comment karen made a few days before she was attacked. her boys were in college, nearly grown. she wasn't sure what her purpose was anymore. as she told dan -- >> "i really wish that i could be u you know, more useful if i'm going to remain here. >> on planet earth? >> on planet earth, yeah. and i would assure her with "but

god has a plan and you will be used." >> reporter: but what kind of use was this? if she lived, she might never regain conciousness. if she regained conciousness, she might never be the same. how useful could that be? and then, suddenly, the case of the murder of amy brandhagen and the attack on karen lange seemed to take on a new and terrifying meaning. chief roberts returned from his vacation to be handed this photograph by investigators. it had been taken four years earlier. >> one of the detectives had gotten his hands on an image of amyjane brandhagen and karen lange together dated august the 14th. >> oh, my god! >> amyjane brandhagen was murdered on august the 14th. karen lange was assaulted on august the 9th, one year after amyjane's murder. >> like somebody's targeting them, or somebody within the church has some strange motivation. >> it could be a member of the congregation, or it could be somebody who they provided outreach services to.

>> reporter: in pendleton, at the free methodist church, the word spread quickly. >> i think in that moment, most of us knew that that wasn't coincidence and i can't tell you how we knew. >> well, small town. same church. >> small town, same church, we all knew each other. i think we just knew. >> reporter: in a town where murder is rare, two women, one photo and dates that lined up like a message. had to be a connection. >> oh, it certainly crossed my mind. i think it crossed everybody's mind. >> reporter: so, once again, detective jackson and the others scoured hours of video recorded by dozens of cameras stationed around town, looking for a suspect. good luck. when amyjane was murdered in broad daylight, those videos turned up exactly nothing. and then? then, luck turned. they saw this, recorded by one of the cameras stationed around

the riverwalk. 6:31 p.m. -- karen lange. there she is right there out for her walk and following her a man, watching her with what looks like a pipe hidden behind his back right there. >> they cross a small footbridge. there's a short stretch there of maybe 50-60 yards where there's just no visibility from any direction unless you're actually on the path. and right there is where he attacks her. >> reporter: is that where she was found? >> she was found about 30 feet down the path. >> reporter: and then they found this video, recorded by another camera about an hour after the attack. same man enters a park bathroom and minutes later emerges to use a drinking fountain. >> i immediately said, "it's the same guy. we've got to show it's the same guy." >> reporter: wait. the same guy as who? chief roberts remembered -- after amyjane was murdered, the only witness who saw anything reported a young man with dark hair, wandering near the motel. >> basically, the description was fairly generic --

male, 20-something, dark hair, a little bit longer with dark toned skin. now, we have the second crime a year later, almost to the anniversary. and here's a male profile, or image on our network camera system that fits. it fits! >> reporter: but who was he? and why was he targeting women from the same church? within hours, a very unusual kind of pendleton roundup was underway. the order was clear -- find him fast. coming up -- the evidence that was about to send this case into overdrive. >> it gave me chills. >> when "dateline" continues. ♪ ah, push it. ♪ ♪ push it. ♪ p...push it real good! ♪ ♪ ow! ♪ oooh baby baby...baby baby.

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♪ >> reporter: when the free methodists of pendleton, oregon went to their weekly worship services that sunday in august, 2013, they offered their prayers for karen lange lying in a portland hospital in a coma. her husband dan -- a constant presence at her bedside. the prognosis was poor. but dan, optimistic by nature, struggled to hang on. >> it's just the faithful attitude that says, no matter what happens, it's god's plan. and his plan is to prosper us.

even if i were to lose karen, i had to hold onto that and realize that. >> reporter: in those first two days since karen was found in the brush alongside the pendleton riverwalk, shock spread like bad electricity. >> someone came up to our senior pastor and said, "y'know, i think i'm glad i'm not part of your church after all these things have happened." you're thinking is there a serial killer around? >> reporter: not fear, exactly. not yet. but someone was out there, was among them, had killed once, perhaps twice. and so the unease grew, dark places were avoided. >> the odds of a stranger picking two people that were as connected, difficult to wrap your mind around. >> reporter: umatilla county district attorney dan primus. >> reporter: yeah. this sounds more like a

zodiac-type killer. it's like one of those weird puzzles. >> absolutely. as you're working these investigations, you're thinking of all those things and trying to determine what connection is there between karen lange and amyjane brandhagen? >> reporter: it seemed very likely to the police and the d.a. that the man seen in the surveillance video was the one who attacked karen lange. and that he might also have been the killer who stabbed amyjane to death in that motel room one year earlier. but who was it? the chief asked his street cops to look at that video. anybody recognize him? and, what do you know, one of them did. >> he looked at the image for a second and sid, that's danny wu. >> reporter: how did he know? because he'd encountered him four times in the previous year. minor infractions, though, so they'd never confirmed that his name actually was danny wu. but there was one thing that might help id him. >> he had a very distinct tattoo on the inside of his left wrist which read, "semper fi."

>> reporter: he's a marine. >> that was my initial reaction. >> reporter: but while chief roberts didn't know who the man really was or where he was now or why he'd targeted two women who once taught bible school together, he knew they had to track him down right away. >> this was a community on edge. >> reporter: but now he's out there. >> he's out there. we've gotta find him. there could be more victims. >> reporter: the chief cancelled all time off, called in every available officer. a manhunt was on. and then, a bit of luck. the very same sharp-eyed detective who found karen noticed something odd nearby. a wooden panel on the back of an old batting cage beside the riverwalk looked not quite right. so, the officer reached behind the loose panel and found a pipe that appeared to have blood on one end. the dna confirmed it was karen's blood. and then, when the crime lab

compared a dna sample from the other end of the pipe with material found under amyjane's fingernails -- >> i get that call on a sunday afternoon. now, we've connected the dots. >> reporter: the man who assaulted karen and amyjane brandhagen's killer were one and the same. right away, the police chief shared the news with the d.a. >> i was at home. chief called me and asked if i was sitting down. he told me that the dna from the pipe matched the dna found underneath amyjane's fingernails. and it gave me chills. >> reporter: but, though chief roberts officers scoured the town, even distributed flyers with wu's pictures on it. they found nothing. hours piled up, days, more than a week. no danny wu. but anxiety? oh, yes. >> you didn't leave garages unlocked. sheds, doors windows, cars -- >> you do, you feel kinda like there's a serial killer in town! >> reporter: and then? a call from the local convention center.

two catering company employees told the dispatcher they'd gone in through a side door to the kitchen. >> and here sits this person who they readily recognized as this danny wu that we had disseminated the images of, and he was sitting there drinking a coke. and he basically picked up his stuff and disappeared into the facility. >> so, he's in the building somewhere. it's a big building. >> it's a big building! >> reporter: within minutes, the police surrounded the convention center. a search dog trained to bite joined in. they set up a command post outside one of the center's windows. >> the dog's just woof, woof, woofin' at the door. and the oregon state trooper behind us says, "i can see a leg hanging out of the ceiling." and there was this. >> looking through a window? >> i take about two steps back from where i'm standing and i can see it. so, i give 'em the command to enter. they go straight to this location in the stairwell and there he is. >> reporter: minutes later, the suspect, the man known as danny wu, the man who may have murdered one woman, possibly

even two and terrorized the town of pendleton, walked out in handcuffs and into the flashing cameras of the local paper. >> reporter: later, officers took this video of his hiding spot in an air conditoning duct in the convention center's ceiling where he had a blanket, a radio and some clothes. >> it looked like a nest. looked liked he'd been there for awhile coming and going, hiding in plain sight. he'd been here all year. >> reporter: but now what? would he talk? lawyer up? or even would he reveal who he really was and why it appeared that he'd targeted the women of the free methodist church? coming up -- inside a heart of darkness. >> i didn't understand that. i had never heard that before. >> revelations that would leave this town and its investigators shattered. >> i didn't know whether to cry. i didn't know whether to scream. i was just dumbfounded.

♪ >> reporter: here he was. the man they knew as danny wu, the man detective sergeant rick jackson had been chasing for a year. >> i'm sergeant rick jackson. we're at the pendleton police department.

i know i'm not dressed like a normal police officer. >> reporter: jackson was out hunting elk when they caught danny wu and rushed in still in his camo, hoping to finally get answers to a year of questions. >> are you willing to talk to me? >> to a certain point. >> reporter: the chief and the d.a. watched from a nearby office. >> i didn't expect him to say anything. i expected him to ask for a lawyer. i wasn't sure how he was gonna respond to any of the questions. >> reporter: but d.a. primus and all of them were in for a big surprise. >> what's your name? >> my name's lukah chang. >> i'm gonna write it down. what's your last name? >> chang. c-h-a-n-g. >> reporter: sure enough, not danny wu, lukah chang. 23 years old, the son of christian missionaries. a deserter from the u.s marines who drifted into town without any plan and stayed briefly at that downtown motel where he encountered a maid named amyjane.

>> did you talk to her? >> no, only in passing. like, she would knock on doors and say, "hey, you want your room cleaned?" like, no. >> reporter: soon chang was broke, living on the street, spending his days at the town library across the street from the travelodge. >> so, you walked by and you saw her? >> i saw her working and it's, oh, look, a target of opportunity. attack. >> so, i just walked in and waited. >> okay. >> how long did you have to wait? >> probably half an hour. >> as you're waiting there a half hour, you're thinking to yourself, what? >> i'm gonna do it. >> so, you grabbed her, brought her into the motel room, the bathroom and then what happened? >> i stabbed her. >> with what? >> a knife. >> reporter: but when detective jackson tried to get into this young man's head, the conversation veered off to a cold and disturbing place. as a missionary's son, was lukah chang rebelling against his parents? against god? detective jackson asked the question on just about every mind in pendleton, oregon. >> why? >> see how it felt.

>> see how what felt? >> taking a life. >> why? >> i was curious. >> how did it feel? >> empowering, saddening. >> empowering and saddening at the same time? >> uh huh, yes. empowering because i took a life. saddening because i realized at the same time, life is precious. >> reporter: that was it? to see how it felt?? >> i didn't understand that. i've never head that from a killer before. >> reporter: but why the second attack? did he target those two women because they taught bible school together? because they appeared in that photograph together? >> not really. it was approaching the anniversary of the first time. >> reporter: and that was just about it, said lukah chang. >> she was walking by. i noticed, followed, attacked. >> reporter: he was a brick wall. if the real answer was buried in his religious past, or his

failed military career. or some other secret corner we were not to know, ever. >> you feel remorse? >> not really. >> why is that? >> i got tired of feeling emotions and stuff like that. i got tired of feeling the feelings. so, i'm like, "all right, let's just cut that out." and so i did. >> reporter: and then, having had his say, the man the police had been chasing for so long was safely tucked away in a jail cell soon to plead guilty to murder and attemped murder and begin serving 35 to life. >> i can't even describe the relief. it's like the world is lifted off your shoulders. >> i didn't know whether to cry. i didn't know whether to scream. i just didn't -- i was just kind of dumbfounded. >> reporter: across the state in portland, dan langetold his comatose wife, karen, they caught him. though, of course she couldn't hear that. and then?

a few days later, dan turned on his video camera. and -- well, see for yourself. >> karen, can you raise that hand up? karen, can you raise your hand again? karen, can you raise that hand up? there ya go. yeah, very good! >> reporter: to the astonishment of her doctors, life flooded back. >> i'm doing very well. i feel great. >> reporter: and just a year after that vicious attack, here she was, karen lange. the woman whose ordeal wound up catching a killer, not exactly the purpose she expected when she talked to her husband dan that day. >> like, i told him not long ago, "don't ever pray for more to do with your life. 'cause boy do you get answered on that!" >> reporter: her recovery took a long time, of course. three hospitals, surgeries to rebuild her skull, months in a protective helmet. but of that awful night, she has no memory at all. >> what was the sense that you recall, at least, of coming out

of this blackness into -- back up into life again? >> well, a lot of it was just a feeling that i didn't know what was wrong. i didn't know why i was in a hospital. i didn't know i was in portland. >> reporter: the lange's troubles are not over. a few months after dan brought karen home from portland, he was diagnosed with cancer. so, a skeptic's question -- >> y'know, you two have been through so much in the last year. i mean, has this not damaged your faith? you're not angry at god for picking on you? >> no. >> reporter: i mean, if there's a plan for you, it's your plan to be so brutalized by an attack and by cancer? >> well, the beauty is that we also see the blessings. see now it's had such a positive

effect on people and how it could be so much worse for me. i see it as we need to go through it. it will be a season of recovery for us. >> reporter: and then, in september, it was pendleton roundup time again. and the mc's voice boomed through the arena. "miracles happen," said the announcer. no one in pendleton knows that better than our singer today for our national anthem, please welcome, ms. karen lange, to the arena. [ cheers and applause ] ♪ oh say can you see ♪ by the dawn's early light >> i looked at it as an opportunity to really just thank the people of pendleton for all the support, all the things that they did they for me and my family.

♪ of the brave [ cheers and applause ] >> reporter: in pendleton, the world was back on its axis. though, perhaps a smaller, sadder, place without the girl who always reached out to the lonely, the strangers, just like the one who drifted into town and killed her. >> pretty remarkable, huh? i mean, isn't he exactly the sort of person that she would have sought out? >> i find that very ironic. and it's also the same person that if she were here today, she would say, take the way of forgiveness, it's the better way. >> let's pray. come, lord jesus -- >> reporter: and every sunday, the faithful still fill the pews at the pendleton free methodist church. and a barefoot sprite who loved to dance lives on at least in memory. >> amy's life was great. and i think the people who knew her would want to live better lives because of knowing her and knowing who she was.

that's all for now. i'm lester holt. thanks for joining us. this sunday -- >> no justice. >> anger and disbelief across the country after a grand jury decides not to incite a police officer in a chokehold death. >> each of us has to grapple with some hard truths about race and justice in america. >> is the criminal justice system failing african-americans? america in black and white. our new poll on how african-americans and whites view the police. the fight within the republican party over immigration. >> we have limited options in terms of how we can deal with this. >> how far will republicans go to block president obama's executive action? >> what i am here urging my fell le r